The police have a job to do, so do journalists

Two weeks ago, there were many who rejoiced when Malaysia showed significant improvement in freedom of the press index - leaping 22 spots to 101st place in the 2020 World Press Freedom report by non-profit group Reporters Without Borders (RSF).

However, a few - sceptics - maintained their stoic silence while they debated how long the “feel-good feeling” would last, especially with signs of the “bad old days” became ubiquitous. D-Day could be anytime, they reckoned and would come without warning and without any hints of signs of its impending arrival.

They didn’t have to wait long – this morning (May 2), it happened. Tashny Sukumaran, the Malaysian correspondent for the Hong Kong-based South China Morning Post was instructed to appear at the police headquarters in Bukit Aman this week.

A day earlier, she and Bhavan Jaipragas filed a report – not exactly neither flattering nor scathing. It was an account of what happened ion the Covid-19 "red zones" in the heart of Kuala Lumpur.

The lengthy report was substantiated with facts, figures, government announcements and other documents. They also quoted eyewitnesses and right-minded people who feel aggrieved.

For a good measure, there was a message for the police from M Ramachelvam, the co-chair of the Bar Council’s Migrants, Refugees and Immigration affairs committee to consider: “If you go around arresting and detaining people, they will not come out to get tested. People will start hiding from the authorities. Even if they are sick, they are not going to come out and seek treatment.”

Tashny is now being investigated for the breach of Section 504 of the Penal Code which reads: "Whoever intentionally insults, and thereby gives provocation to any person, intending or knowing it to be likely that such provocation will cause him to break the public peace, or to commit any other offence, shall be punished with imprisonment for a term which may extend to two years or with fine or with both".

Question for the police - why would any journalist worth his or her salt intentionally insult to provoke anyone to commit an offence?

Perhaps, during the pre-GE14 era, they may have come across (and closed both eyes) guns-for-hire writers and journalists doing it for political purposes or monetary gains. Although there are pockets of them operating on social media, it would be safe to assume that the mainstream media and established news portals have seen the last of them.

Those who imbibed and headed such practices paid a heavy price – not only being out of jobs but also dragging their colleagues down with them.

What has suddenly irked the police? When they shoot armed robbers and kidnappers and arrest drug kingpins, journalists report their success - what the police had done. When they conduct raids and arrest illegal immigrants, it is ditto – the same treatment.

That’s what news and reporting are all about. Journalists want to educate and inform their readers and viewers who want to know the latest developments, especially in times when they can’t leave their abodes.

But what are the possibilities for a credible journalist to one day, conjure a plan to intentionally cause panic and alarm amongst the citizenry? The odds are very, very, very long indeed.

How did Tashny supposedly manage this feat? She reported what happened right in front of not only her eyes but also the hundreds of pairs of eyes of onlookers and witnesses.

This is the gist of what she wrote:

• Hundreds arrested as Malaysia cracks down on migrants in Covid-19 red zones;
  
• Children as young as four have been taken in immigration raids launched by Malaysia just hours after it announced the easing of its lockdown;
  
• The raids came despite an earlier government assurance that undocumented migrants had "nothing to fear" in coming forward to be tested for the virus.

What is so contentious or do we have to fall back on the maxim that “the truth always hurts”? Do the cops want get to her sources because she wrote: “Photos which appear to show the operation were supplied to the South China Morning Post by a source who cannot be identified for safety reasons”?

We can only speculate but the police have bigger issues on their hands – their very own tattered image in the eyes of the public. The actions or lack of them is perceived as there being in existence and in practice, double standards when it comes to law enforcement.

The commentaries by senior lawyers and experts and the comments which followed from readers in the various news organisations and news portals are enough to underline this assertion.

Yes, the perception of the police has plummeted from a high last June when they raided apartments and homes belonging to the rich and famous to recover the 1MDB loot to the lowest when the movement control order was introduced on March 18.

Only yesterday, two photographs – one showing a man handcuffed behind his back for breaching the MCO while other depicted a police officer (charged with human trafficking) walking unhindered into the courthouse. The heading was obvious – double standards.

If any expressions made recently that are insulting and provoking, they have been the ones made by former inspector-general of police, Musa Hassan and former culture minister Rais Yatim. They have certainly insulted and provoked people.

Would the police use the same clause against these (retired) VVIPs or are the laws only applicable to the Joe Public, ordinary Joes and other lesser mortals who carry out their legal, moral and ethical responsibilities in accordance with the set principles and procedures?

The police force despite its shortcomings, inadequacies and limitations has been getting its fair share of opportunities for redemption. However, these are not being accepted so that remedial action can be taken and it is not stamped and classified as a lost cause.

Can you blame the rakyat if they continue to focus on missteps by the police and view them as blunders or mistakes? While the big-wigs in Bukit Aman ponder over this, can we ask for something? Please, can you leave us journalists alone?

We, too, like all the others and police officers too, are trying to do our jobs under difficult situations. I will take the liberty of speaking for many of them – no wants a fight or quarrel with anyone.

Like you and the others, we have to go on our rounds, we have accurate reports to submit, we have bosses to answer to and deadlines to meet. We do our jobs like how you are doing yours – diligently to the best of your abilities without having the state books being unnecessarily thrown at us.

We only hope the police force will make a concerted effort to do its best to get back to its glory days by being fair and enforcing the law fairly and judiciously – without fear or favour. We are not asking nor expecting more.

---

R NADESWARAN had both ends of the bargain in his long career – face-offs and excellent camaraderie with the cops. Each gave and received – in good and in bad times, but there was never the need to go to the extremes. Comments: citizen.nades22@gamil.com - Mkini